July 07, 2025

Fiction Stranger Than Life


Fiction Stranger Than Life
Z symbol, Krasnodar Military School Russian Ministry of Defence, Wikimedia Commons

“Z literature” continues to grow.

Named after the “Z” symbol – a letter that has come to represent support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the genre refers to Russian books that push nationalistic sentiment through fantasy and science-fiction. 

Within Z literature is a trope known as popadantsy, “accidental travel.” In this trope, a central character travels back in time to a historical period to intervene and alter the trajectory of Russian history. The books are known to be crude, often not written by professional authors, and usually ending in the glory and triumph of Russia over the rest of the world. The popularity of Z literature, especially popadantsy, is growing among male Russian teens.

The genre might most closely resemble wartime fanfiction. Translations of the works seldom exist, but summaries by scholars and reporters studying the phenomenon can be found.

Sergej Sumlenny, political scientist and founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center, took to X in 2022 to call out dangerous trend. One example Summlenny cited was the book "Tsar of the Future," in which “a guy wakes up in a body of the Russian emperor Nicholas II, prevents the Russian Revolution, defeats Great Britain, and conquers Istanbul.”

An article by Mediazona exploring the genre offered a few summaries of other books. One, "Studies in Black," written by AI entrepreneur Olga Uskova, follows a character (with the same name as the author) who develops AI versions of Russia’s leaders, including Putin. In this universe, Putin is recovering from an assassination attempt while all other prominent leaders have conveniently been poisoned.

These time-travel alternate-universe fantasies allow authors to imagine ludicrous triumphs for the Russian state. Most frightening is their appeal to teens – the demographic most needed for enlistment.

Clearly the genre is part the rise of intense Russian nationalism, warping time and space to create an adventure narrative, while warping the "hero" story so as to glorify the Russian state and paint the rest of the world as antagonists.

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